AITA for not immediately refunding a Facebook Marketplace buyer who backed out after paying?
I sold a bed on Facebook Marketplace for $200. The buyer paid me in advance via Venmo to hold it (she offered, I did not request) and said she would pick it up “later in the week.” (This was on Sunday). Friday comes around and I reach out to her.
She messages me saying she couldn’t pick it up and wanted a refund, due to the death of her mother. I was skeptical since I scoped out her profile before giving her my address and there was a recent post about her mom passing in November.. but I still tried to be accommodating. I offered to hold the bed longer so she could pick it up later. She said no and still wanted her money back.
I then told her I would refund her when the bed sells, since I had taken it off the market and held it for her. I reposted the bed less than 24 hours ago moments after our conversation.
Since then, she has sent me multiple Venmo requests for $200 demanding the refund. I declined the requests and messaged her explaining that it hasn’t sold and that she’s welcome to come pick it up and sell it herself if she wants. She hasn’t done that.
I feel like I’ve acted in good faith, but I’m also irritated about being pressured when the agreement was conditional on resale and it’s hasn’t even been 24 hours.
AITA for not refunding her immediately and sticking to “refund when it sells”?
EDIT: Okay, so there have been multiple comments about the possibility of it being a scam. I did think it was nuts somebody wanted to send me $200 without ever seeing the bed. I thought maybe they were just rich and didn’t care about money. But now it seems like a red flag.
The buyer also made it a point to tell me they were honest when I wasn’t even questioning them at that point.. why did they feel the need to say that? Another red flag. Lastly, the multiple requests and urgency/pressure seems like a red flag too. So now I really don’t want to give a refund and end up being screwed. I am thinking offer to hold it for 30 days and she can resell?
2/7 UPDATE FOR ANYONE THAT CARES:
After reading the comments, I messaged her again and politely explained my concerns regarding a possible scam. I told her she could either pick up the bed, reach out to her bank, or reach out to Venmo. I also reached out to Venmo and they advised me this is a common scam. She was very unhappy and made demeaning comments on our Venmo transaction and sent me a facebook message threatening small claims court. When I didn’t budge she sent me another message and said I have 7 days to send her $200 or she will file a small claim for $25 and get $225 from me. Then she blocked me and deleted the messages where you can see she offered the $200 ahead of time and now it looks like I asked for it. I’ve lost sleep and shed tears over this. I am thinking maybe it’s not a scam now and I should just pay her? I can’t afford to take time off work for this or the added stress. I’m at a loss and don’t know what to think. I think we are both assholes.
